After multiple birds were killed, Tencent applied a "film" to the headquarters building! Why can't birds see glass?

One spray, two apply, and three scrape flat, carefully removing bubbles. Do you think this is the master applying film to the phone?Recently, Tencent has applied dot stickers to the exterior walls of its Shenzhen headquarters Binhai Building

One spray, two apply, and three scrape flat, carefully removing bubbles. Do you think this is the master applying film to the phone?

Recently, Tencent has applied dot stickers to the exterior walls of its Shenzhen headquarters Binhai Building. This is not for decoration, but to enable birds to "see" the glass clearly and prevent "bird collision" accidents.

Birds planted on glass curtain walls

A few months ago, a bird collision prevention project team spontaneously formed by Tencent employees conducted a month long bird collision research in Tencent office buildings in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and other places.

During the inspection process, employee Yulan and cleaning lady discovered a total of 6 birds unfortunately dying in the same location 5 times in a short period of time under the glass curtain wall outside the Binhai Building. They all died from bird strikes.

Bird collision refers to the phenomenon of birds hitting buildings or glass on buildings due to the transparent or reflective properties of glass.

In North America, bird collisions are considered the second leading cause of death among wild birds due to human activities, with a threat level second only to stray cat predation. According to research, the number of individual bird deaths caused by bird collisions in the United States each year ranges from 365 million to 988 million.

On the evening of October 4th, nearly 1000 birds died after colliding with windows at the McCormick Exhibition Center in Chicago, USA. The center is the largest exhibition center in North America, with most of its exterior walls covered with glass. At the scene, the bodies of these birds were placed together, thick as a carpet.

It is reported that in recent months, other birds such as palm warblers, yellow buttocks warblers, and white throated sparrows have been migrating in autumn, passing through Chicago and flying south for the winter.

Ecologist Stotz from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago said that the fact that so many birds died overnight indicates a large number of birds migrating here. According to reports, from the evening of October 4th to the early morning of October 5th, the number of migratory birds over Chicago reached a peak of about 1.5 million. Coincidentally, in September 2021, hundreds of migratory birds passed through New York and collided with the exterior walls of several local buildings before dying.

Bird collisions have also occurred from time to time in China. In April this year, Zhao Li, an insect expert from Chengdu, Sichuan, found that several birds were suspected to have died from hitting the glass when passing a commercial street in Dujiangyan Irrigation Project, including the red billed acacia, a national second-class protected wild animal.

In April 2020, a residential area in Changping District, Beijing was hit by birds due to the installation of glass curtain walls between houses. At that time, Zhao Xinru, an expert in ornithology at Beijing Normal University, stated in an interview that the glass mirror would reflect the scene of the sky. When birds flew towards the glass curtain wall and collided, it could cause fatal external injuries such as intracranial hemorrhage, skull and various bones of the body being broken, and internal organs being damaged and bleeding.

Can't birds see glass curtain walls?

During the day, there are usually two common reasons for bird collisions. One scenario is that birds see habitats or sky environments reflected on reflective glass and mistakenly believe that the location on the glass can be reached, thus flying towards the glass; Secondly, birds can see plants or space on the other side through transparent glass, which can make them mistake it for a natural and flyable environment.

At night, artificial light not only causes birds to lose their sense of direction, but also attracts them, ultimately causing a large number of birds to gather around the light source building, greatly increasing the risk of birds hitting the building and causing death.

Bird collisions mostly occur during the spring and autumn bird migration seasons, and some birds may not be familiar with the urban environment during migration and may collide with buildings. During the breeding season, some newly born chicks may have unfamiliar flight skills and are prone to bird collisions.

Why can we relatively easily distinguish the glass of buildings, but birds cannot?

Glass is a widely used artificial building material in modern times. With the rapid development of global urbanization since the Industrial Revolution, it has rapidly changed the appearance of the Earth's surface in a century. However, birds have lived on Earth for tens of millions of years, but have never had the experience of coexisting with glass, and have no concept of glass at all.

Meanwhile, this is also related to the sensory characteristics of birds. Unlike humans, birds have stronger lateral vision than their frontal vision. During flight, birds often need to turn their heads or heads to guard against predators and search for prey. However, the visual resolution in the forward direction of flight is relatively low, making it difficult for them to effectively detect obstacles ahead.

In addition, birds are more sensitive to moving objects, which makes it harder for them to notice the deadly glass ahead.

How to reduce the occurrence of tragedies?

The reason why glass curtain walls become a deadly barrier for birds is largely due to their reflective and illusory blue sky, white clouds, and vegetation, which are seen by birds as natural environments that can be flown over. Therefore, the goal of building renovation is to block the reflection effect of glass, so that birds can see obstacles clearly and give up the idea of passing through the glass surface.

According to Li Binbin, an assistant professor at the Environmental Research Center of Duke University in Kunshan, a study has found that when the entire glass is covered with wave dot patterns or cross stripes, birds see a two-dimensional plane like a fence.

In practical operation, certain requirements are put forward for the pattern spacing, shape, direction, etc. on the sticker. For example, the width of the line should be greater than 0.3 centimeters, and the diameter of the point should be at least 0.7-1 centimeters. The pattern spacing should ensure that both the horizontal and vertical spacing are within 5 centimeters, which is less than the wingspan of most birds.

In terms of color, colors that contrast significantly with glass, including black and white, are more effective. In addition, the orange and red colors alone have better anti bird impact effects. Stickers should be placed on the outside of the glass for more effective application.

In addition to applying film, drawing on glass can also prevent bird strikes.

Students from Hangzhou Yungu School have observed bird collisions on campus. Jiang Yusang, a primary school science teacher at the school, said that the school organized students to explore multiple renovation plans. Initially, the school used acrylic markers to outline thin lines of patterns, but it was found that there were still gray breasted bamboo chickens and red faced blue tailed birds colliding with such glass, and stickers faced cost issues. Finally, the school found that using acrylic markers to draw large color blocks can prevent bird collisions.

There are five buildings in the school, and three have already been renovated. Each floor has different renovation measures, "she said. From the effect, the renovation did not have a significant impact on the building's lighting.

At the beginning of building design, reduce the use of large areas of glass or use glass materials that prevent bird strikes to build bird friendly buildings. A sloping surface can also be set to create contrast and uneven reflection, preventing birds from experiencing the illusion of being able to fly over.

In addition, at night, turning off indoor lights, closing curtains when not needed, and even dimming the lights during the migration season can significantly reduce the frequency of bird collisions.

(Reference materials: China Science and Technology Daily, Beijing Science and Technology Daily, New Beijing News, CCTV, etc.)

Topic Host | Reporter Yang Chuying

Source: Yangcheng Evening News - Yangcheng Sect

Editor in Chief | Xie Zhe

Proofreading | Peng Jiye

Editor: Yang Chuying

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